Weighing is an integral process in warehouses and factories and it is essential that operators carefully consider scale selection to ensure the most efficient operations.

Weighing is used for a wide variety of warehouse/factory operations. Major weighing processes include general auditing; order, case, and pallet picking; evaluating rack loading limits; trailer loading; and dimensional (DIM) weighing, also known as volumetric weighing.

General auditing includes weighing parcels for proper classification, storage, repacking or shipping.

Order picking may include either basic case picking or pallet picking. Basic case-picking operations usually use a hand pallet jack (or motorized pallet truck) with a scale and pick cases out of bulk floor locations. The scale is used to verify that an item has been picked for an order. Basic pallet picking is the most common method for full-pallet picking. Orders are picked one at a time. Forklifts are used to retrieve the pallet load and stage it in a shipping area for a specific order. Using a forklift scale improves efficiency, decreases pallet handling, improves safety, and allows a load to be placed directly into an outbound trailer or container providing a total weight as the trailer is being loaded.

Scales are also used for rack loading limits to ensure weight limits for racking are not overloaded, maintaining a safe work environment.

As with pallet picking, using a forklift scale for trailer loading improves efficiency, decreases pallet handling, eliminates traffic to and from a static scale, and allows a load to be placed directly into an outbound trailer – providing weight information as the trailer is being loaded.

Last up is DIM weighing, collecting the dimensions and weight of a parcel for determining proper loading or shipping charges. By using shipping rates focused on package size as well as weight, shippers will be able to operate more efficiently and ultimately benefit from using smaller package sizes or loading trailers more effectively.

While there is little difference in weighing technology between warehouse environments and other industries, these scales should be specifically designed for the equipment utilized. Scales can be designed into forklifts and pallet jacks or added as specific requirements. Other differences may include how the scales interact with existing systems, and how they process weight data along with parcel data.

Considerations for choosing a scale for a warehouse or factory

Process or application – What weight information is needed and at what accuracy is it needed? Where is the weight data used in the process? How can the data be utilized with the highest degree of certainty with the least amount of errors? How can it be accessed most easily?

Durability – Can the scale handle the environment process in which it operates?

Accuracy – Is it the right scale for the job, providing the degree of accuracy required to meet process requirements?

Certification – Does the scale have the proper National Type Evaluation Program (NTEP) certification needed for use in a legal-for-trade process?

Benefits of selecting the right scale

Selecting the right scale has a big effect on achieving a good return on investment (ROI) for the equipment. The benefits of selecting the right scale include improved process speed, less traffic (to a static scale), improved order accuracy, the ability to capture data in real-time through use of Wi-Fi, a safer environment, and a properly executed process.

Selecting the wrong scale could result in reduced process speeds, bottlenecks, traffic congestion at a static scale, errors in order accuracy, and an improperly executed process.

Weighing operations must adapt to changes in the marketplace

Choosing a new logistics facility or distribution center (DC) site involves evaluating a number of factors and considering numerous details. The best way to start is by thoroughly examining the elements that combine to support business needs, including weighing and scale operations.

Manufacturing and raw materials sourcing play a major role in site selection. One reason is that bulk raw materials are typically expensive to transport relative to their value. Manufacturing consumes considerable resources, including raw materials, energy, and labor. As a result, companies locate manufacturing and fabrication operations near those resources.

The sourcing/production side of the supply chain usually starts anywhere low-cost materials, labor, and production are available. The options narrow, however, when inbound logistics and distribution functions enter the equation. The earlier in the process a company considers logistics, the more likely it can design supply chain costs and performance to withstand external or internal disruption.

The distribution side of the supply chain is nearly a mirror image of the sourcing/production decision, but it is driven by the location of high-value customers. Key factors, such as the number, type of customer, and condition of roadways, rail lines, inland waterways, and airports directly affect the ease, consistency, and cost of the flow of goods from the source.

Looking at these factors, especially given the disruption now being caused by e-commerce, weighing applications will need to become part of the warehouse and operational processes and provide levels of improvement going forward.

Most customers will tell us that their top priority is not shorting customers. They say they add more to a customer’s box to ensure it meets state and federal laws that require accurate statements of weights. Without an accurate scale, many end up shorting themselves!

Take the example of a 40-pound box of sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes grow in many sizes, and they all go into one box, but if you don’t have a scale to know for sure that you are putting 40 pounds into the box, you may be better off giving the customer that one extra potato that puts them over the stated amount. You don’t want to, but if you short a customer one time, you will never get that business back. You don’t want the customer to say, “You gave me 39 pounds and 14 ounces in this box – You shorted me two ounces!”

Maybe giving away one extra potato is fine, but you don’t want to give the customers several potatoes, because then you start losing profit. Consider a 40,000-pound lot — 4000 boxes at 40 pounds each. Without a scale, you might pack 1.5 pounds over what should have been in the box. That would be 6000 pounds given away, and profit that should have been in your pocket!

Only an accurate piece of weighing equipment can eliminate that problem. While there is a cost involved, there is no question it will save you money in the end. Consistently giving customers extra product for their purchases will make customers happy, but it is not in the producer’s best interest.

The term “accurate scale” does not mean an inexpensive bathroom weighing scale. While it may be fine for low-end weights, low-end scales are not legal for trade. They are intended for occasional use. A bathroom scale is simply not made to handle the kind of weight that results from weighing 40,000 boxes a week. It is either going to break, or start weighing inaccurately.

To ensure that you get accurate weights, use a top-quality scale built for heavy weighing. In addition, to ensure accurate weights, have the scale inspected and calibrated regularly. This is critical. That way you are eliminating inaccurate weights.

For example, we recently worked with a North Carolina produce supplier that had established its own packing facility after previously sending out their sweet potatoes and watermelons to be packed elsewhere. They were using a basic “eyeballing” method to fill boxes. To make sure they didn’t short their customers, they wound up overfilling the boxes and shorting themselves!

The new facility ships using two box sizes: a 40-pound carton and a 500-kilogram (1100-pound) box. In a bulk line, the sweet potatoes are washed, graded, and sized. As they are sized, workers fill up the 40 pound carton boxes, “guesstimating” their weight and then putting on the lid. Fairbanks recommended they install a Fairbanks Series III general-purpose bench scale with built-in rechargeable battery and integral pillar-style instrument. A roller ball top was recently added, so workers never have to pick up the boxes.

Operators placed the Series III bench scale with roller ball top at the end of their conveyor line. They fill the 40-pound carton box and slide it down the scale. The scale weighs up to 150 pounds in increments of .05 pounds. If the box weighs more than 40 pounds, operators remove potatoes to get as close to the target weight as possible.

For the large 500-kilo boxes, they only visually estimated the contents, filling them up to the top to make sure each box held more than the required amount. They knew they would be giving away some product, but wanted to make sure there was at least a little extra. But after six months of “guesstimation,” they became concerned they were really shorting themselves. After all, each box could be off by as much as 20 kilos (44 pounds), so they were potentially giving away about 1000 pounds of sweet potatoes in each 25-box shipment!

For this application, Fairbanks recommended the use of an Aegis 4-foot by 4-foot, 5,000-pound industrial mild steel floor scale. The scale is equipped with an FB1100 Series instrument, which comes with a highly visible 2-inch backlit LCD screen. The instrument is mounted on the wall above the scale. It can sit on the forklift, so when the box is set, operators can see what it weighs from the forklift.

The customer says that instead of packing 520-540 kilos per box, they can now get it down to about 503-504 kilos, just enough overage to ensure they meet the required weight. They estimate that removing the excess paid for the cost of the floor scale in about one week.

Across a range of industries, companies can lose thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of dollars annually if scales are inaccurate. While scale calibration and maintenance costs can seem high, with an annual price tag of up to $1,000 to $3,000, the best scale calibration and maintenance programs more than pay for themselves by correcting costly inaccuracies. In fact, these programs can even help to ensure a complete ROI on the cost of the scale itself!

To be most effective, a scale maintenance program must have five key components: the use of a state-licensed service provider; conducting calibration using state-certified test weights with written calibration and test report for proof of accuracy; a thorough testing process; visual inspection services and minor repairs; and detailed reporting. By implementing scale maintenance programs with these five key components, scale owners can expect to keep costs down and profits up through scale accuracy and timely maintenance.

While some service providers require that any minor repairs and adjustments found to be necessary during the calibration be taken care of by a separate visit and charge, the most comprehensive programs by service providers enable technicians to make these repairs and adjustments as part of routine calibration visits. In addition, some providers offer on-line portals for 24/7/365 access to a repository of customer calibration reports.

Use a state-licensed service provider

It is important to understand that the state weights and measures organization is the only entity that can issue a scale certification. A commercial scale company cannot certify a scale – but it does have the authority to recalibrate and reinstate an inaccurate scale that has been “tagged-out” by the state – as long as the scale company is state-licensed and registered in good standing.

Conduct calibration using state-certified test weights

Calibration must be performed with state-certified test weights. An established scale service company typically has its entire inventory of test weights tested and certified annually, in accordance with state weights and measures standards.

Beware of service companies that test only a portion of their overall weight inventory each year. Though this may save costs for the service provider, it can cost you a lot in the long run if test weights are inaccurate during calibration. Here’s a tip: All certified test weights bear a stamp from the governing state weights and measures entity, and you can request a copy of the test weight certification from your scale service provider.

Make sure testing process is thorough

To test a weighing device properly, testers first have to determine the length of the platform and the total number of sections along that length. Each section contains a scale load point and therefore a load sensor. The accuracy of each of these load points is critical to overall accuracy, and so should be a focus of the testing process.

Incorporate visual inspection and repairs

A thorough scale maintenance program must include visual inspection, followed by any necessary repairs. A good service company should conduct a free visual inspection and have the ability to perform minor repairs while on-site for the maintenance visit. Most scale owners understand that it is better to repair and address issues when they are small, rather than wait until they are big and expensive.

Thorough reporting

A good scale maintenance program will provide thorough reporting. Each maintenance inspection should include a written report documenting test results, and including both before and after calibration, as well as a summary of finding and recommendations.

Customer labeling and packaging demands are changing every day. We see customers using labeling more and more – and in many different stages from pre-production through retail packaging of finished goods.

Why is this? The use of clear and concise labels with key information and barcoding allows customers to track their work in process. By monitoring all the production stages they can gather and use data to improve their processes. We are also seeing labeling used in conjunction with data collection to generate pallet manifests and bills of lading. It all adds up to using data to increase efficiencies and profitability.

While the trend is present in most industries, processes and requirements vary greatly from industry to industry, so how this trend presents itself varies too. For example, the food industry is seeing a push for “clean labels,” making certain that consumer data on the label is easy to understand, clear, and concise. Other industries are looking for labels to reflect a product’s technical data or dimensional specifications. Labeling is used in the recycling industry to track materials and weights.

One example of where this comes into play is for our customer Laubscher Cheese, which was facing extremely short lead times and the need to adapt to many different items and pack sizes. Laubscher really needed to be able to quickly update the information displayed on label templates. Using the Fairbanks LabelBank/DataBank system, they could modify the information appearing on the label template extremely fast and with minimal pauses in production. This let them reduce or even eliminate their need to carry inventory of costly pre-printed labels. With the ability to customize and print on demand only the labels they need, they realized a very quick return on investment.

Laubscher also needed accurate collection of data that could flow easily into reports, so they adopted Fairbanks Ledger Web Reporting to show process flow, production output, yields, and more. LabelBank/DataBank and Ledger Web Reporting are also well suited to other industries. We have active customers in meat processing, dairy products, recycling, industrial manufacturing, and even government coin press operations, to name a few.

Customer labeling, packaging, and data collection needs are constantly changing and evolving. As they do, Fairbanks will continue to develop better ways to meet those needs. Whether it’s additional features to Ledger Web Reporting that make it easier to access information, or new modules for the LabelBank/DataBank software, Fairbanks’ goal is to make a customer’s labeling and data collection needs an efficient part of their process.

The mobile weighing market has changed dramatically over the past few years. Much of the change is driven by huge shipping companies and distribution centers that manage their throughput with pallets or skids, although any operation moving in the neighborhood of 20,000 pallets per week is looking for better mobile weighing operations. The reason is simple: a traditional floor scale takes up valuable floor space and in many manufacturing and warehouse environments floor space is at a premium.

In response, Fairbanks Scales Inc. recently released an entire line of mobile weighing products. Examples include the pallet jack scales – a scale that is integrated into a pallet jack; forklift scales, and scales for a wide variety of warehouse trucks.

Another recently developed option is the portable U-shaped floor scale, for example the Fairbanks’ Yellow Jacket Yellow Jacket U-Shaped floor scale. Unlike traditional floor scales, the U-shaped floor scale eliminates the need for floor scale ramps or a pit frame to sit the pallet or skid on the weighing platform.

Operators simply move the pallet into place over the scale, lower the pallet jack so the load is resting on the scale, capture the weight, and then raise the pallet jack to easily move the pallet or skid to its next location. This reduces weighing times by up to 50 percent by eliminating the time-consuming step of pulling the pallet jack out from underneath the pallet, which can be difficult with traditional ramped floor scales.

Another bonus is that the scale also eliminates the unsafe man-handling required to remove a pallet jack from underneath a pallet using a traditional floor scale with a ramp.

I can illustrate the point with a story about U.S. Toys, a Kansas City company that operates a 750,000 square foot distribution center. This might seem like an enormous amount of space. However, over time they started running out of room around their truck shipment preparation area. They had several traditional floor scales. Although the floor scales were effective, they weren’t efficient for their growing needs.

They liked the idea of the U-shaped floor scale design in Fairbanks’ Yellow Jacket scale. Within the first week after installation of the Yellow Jacket U-shaped floor scale, the U-shaped designed proved to be faster, easier to use, and safer in terms of ergonomics.

The online shopping experience is changing our lives. After purchasing online, we expect our purchases to be at our door the next day. Companies like Amazon have developed a model that satisfies this growing demand for convenience and fast delivery. So, what does this mean to those who manufacture, warehouse, or transport these goods? I can put it in one word – speed!

And to meet that need for speed, especially where space is limited, every logistical process now requires a higher degree of processing with more accurate information. Tracking shipments and orders and maintaining visibility is not just a convenience – it is a requirement.

Existing processes are being replaced with more efficient ones that take less time, improve safety, and deliver quickly. At the top of the pile of new technologies responding to this need are mobile weighing alternatives.

What are advantages of mobile weighing technologies?

Mobile weighing has a number of advantages in today’s fast-paced environment. The load is weighed on the pallet jack or forklift as soon as it is picked-up, reducing time required to weigh, improving safety by reducing traffic congestion to and from a stationary scale, and improving forklift operation times.

Also, with mobile weighing you can capture critical process data at the pallet jack or forklift and communicate it wirelessly to systems that track and measure the process. This reduces the time required for recording critical process data and reduces recording errors.

How are older technologies being replaced?

Common warehouse and manufacturing designs have been developed around stationary scales located in strategic areas within the facility. Under this scenario, forklifts and pallet jacks move product from the loading/unloading area to the scale, weigh the goods, and manually record information before returning back to the loading/unloading area.

This tried and true design is still the backbone of many companies and will always have an important place at the table. For example, where processes and product or material moving through the material handling is cumbersome or have awkward shapes, a centrally located static scale may be fine.

But those moving pallets, boxes, or other typical units may find that mobile weighing makes more sense. Especially for companies that are running in an ever-increasing race to satisfy customers’ requirements for speed, stationary scales may consume too much time and energy. The traditional method of moving goods to and from the scale also produces traffic congestion in higher volume processes.

With mobile weighing, you can pick up the product while loading or unloading, then put it down again and all this information gets communicated through the work-in-process system. In fact, any time you find yourself wanting to know more about products in a faster time frame, you should start considering mobile weighing options.

What are my options?

There are a variety of mobile weighing options in the marketplace. Examples include Fairbanks’ Pallet Weigh and Pallet Weigh Plus Series pallet jacks for weighing pallets on the jack; the BlueLine Series weigh forks with a built-in weighing device; the CP Series carriage plate scale; and the FH and FHX Series hydraulic weighing devices.

One large grocery chain in the south is evaluating the Pallet Weigh Plus as an alternative to tying up a very high value fork lift on simple loading procedures. In addition, use of the new weighing technology will improve their drivers’ line of sight and thus improve safety.

Another example is a medium size manufacturing industry that does about 40,000 pallet movements per year, one-quarter of which has to be weighed. Using a BlueLine fork scale for 10-12,000 weighments, they saved about 3 minutes per weighment, amounting to about $21,000 per year.

If you decide to implement a mobile weighing strategy, I definitely recommend keeping your existing scales and proving out a new process in phases. Take small incremental steps, prove out each one, and then move to the next step. A good mobile weighing process centers on data collection, so think strategically about specifically what you need to collect. Also, even after you implement a mobile weighing process, keep the static scale as your permanent backup.

In most cases, you will find a combination of static and mobile weighing is the best strategy, based on a thorough understanding of how to move your goods through a process safely.

Whenever weight is used to determine the revenue gained from sale of a product, inaccurate weight readings can pose a big problem. Weighment loss is the lost profit caused by inaccurate readings of weighment transactions. Though these losses may start small, they build up over time to cause big headaches. Thankfully, we have some helpful tips for identifying causes of weighing inaccuracy and remedying them before profit losses accumulate!

Weighment loss can be caused by a number of factors:

Continual wear on both the weighing platform and the electronic components of the weighing equipment can begin to reduce reading accuracy.

Using inaccurate stored tare weights affects the calculation of the product weight.

Environmental effects, including the buildup of mud, ice, or snow under or between the pit and scale platform are a concern if using outdoor scales.

Using division sizes or weighing increments that are too large reduces the accuracy of the readings.

Tools are available to estimate potential revenue loss caused by common scale issues. For example, Fairbanks offers a tool that can show potential revenue loss by even very minimal inaccuracies.

The good news is that weighing inaccuracies and resulting weighment loss can be identified and corrected before profit losses accumulate. In some cases, scale users notice an inaccuracy, especially if it is not in their favor. Having a known weight on a scale, such as a loader or yard tractor, provides some idea of potential weighment loss. In other cases, scale service technicians may be the first to identify weighing inaccuracies during routine or unplanned maintenance.

The best approach to discovering weighing inaccuracies, identifying specific causes, and preventing extensive weighment loss, is to call in an expert service technician to inspect the physical weighing platform and components, and to regularly compare current calibrated values with those previously certified. Some equipment will even alert the user when a scale is ready for a maintenance review. Finally, it is important to use the appropriate scale for the job to ensure accurate readings.

Contact Fairbanks today if you need help determining whether your current scale is right for your weighing needs, to schedule an appointment with an expert service technician, or if you suspect that weighing inaccuracies are cutting into your profits.

An indicator displays weight output and a printed ticket, along with one or two basic features. With all of the information on an individual ticket or output, running reports requires additional equipment and software.

An instrument, by comparison, offers increased functionality to provide more options for data collection.

Data collection is growing rapidly in importance across the globe, and has become the strongest driver out there when evaluating an instrument. Today’s instruments can capture transactional information, control scale traffic, and offers multiple options for data output. For data capture alone, a scale instrument IS a good investment in the future.

An instrument is essentially a computer, containing all the information it collects. It allows users to export data, categorize it, report on what customers are pulling from the scale, and even gather load-specific vehicle information. Some models have diagnostic capabilities that keep track of the condition of load cells, and report any problems. Most have a keyboard that allows users to enter text during a transaction. Even if you are starting out small but plan on expanding in the future, it’s worth getting an instrument to take advantage of the data and reporting capabilities that have become so important to doing business.

In addition to data collection, scale instruments offer the ability to communicate from different ports. For example, you can print a ticket, then display an email, and even send the information to a programmable logic controller (PLC).
It’s important to point out that the return on investment (ROI) for purchasing an instrument can be very high. Note the annual costs of being off by even one division (20lbs for example) per truck. Annual product loss varies, depending upon the commodity value.

One example of the power of new scale instruments is the Fairbanks FB2550. With this “Cadillac” option, a single FB2550 can drive up to eight scales, network up to four other FB2550s, provide custom output through serial and TCP/IP configurations. In addition, it can support a total of five networked FB2550s to support existing scale layouts for inbound / outbound weighing; sharing the transactional data between all five instruments. Other features include advanced diagnostics with a variety of email notifications that tell end users when it’s time for maintenance. If the scale is equipped with Intalogix™ technology it can report individual load cell failure.

The FB2550 has many special application modes and accessories that allow it to adapt to customer application needs. For example, it comes with several enclosure options to fit the environment and space needed. You can choose from rack-mount, desktop, NEMA 4X for wash-down models, or panel mount to install into a wall. In in outdoor areas with frequent exposure to the elements there’s the FB2550 Driver Assist Terminal (DAT). This model allows for a pole mounted installation at the scale and is great for unattended operations, which is becoming more and more popular. Using the FB2550 (DAT), doesn’t require a scale house or weighmaster and transactions can be emailed anywhere. The fully unattended instrument forces navigation, so it does not allow for the screen to get caught up between customers. This option would be excellent for those who want to run remote scales. Going back to customer adaptation, unattended behavior is a mode that any of the enclosures can use, however it works well for driver-at-scale interaction.

For customers wanting their first instrument and looking for a single scale model, the FB6000 is a good alternate. A little less powerful than “the Cadillac,” option, it allows only a single scale solution but still provides in/out weighing with traffic control, and supports Gross Tare Net weighments. It provides a high intensity 16 segment display for easy readability of weight, and scrolling prompt entry. This instrument is a well-tuned and economically placed alternate that supports both an analog and Intalogix™ scale package. It too can detect individual load cell failures when equipped with Intalogix™, however it doesn’t send email and there is no device-to-device networking like the FB2550. Like its high-end cousin, the FB6000 also has a variety of other data reporting functions and allows real-time report viewing and export to the spreadsheet friendly CSV format.

Our LabelBank/DataBank Rapid Bar Code Labeling System has gone into many interesting spots, but for Whitewater Processing Company, a turkey processing company located in Harrison, OH, it can almost be considered a holiday miracle. It was installed quickly by Associated Scale, an Authorized Fairbanks Scales Distributor, which meant Whitewater Processing was able to use the new system for the very busy holiday season. Fairbanks also supplied ledger web reporting software, and will be providing annual software support and remote support.

Replacing Whitewater’s handwritten system with the new LabelBank/DataBank solution improved their recording efficiency and increased production output. As an added holiday bonus, it promoted better branding for their products.

Whitewater managers recently gave the system “two thumbs up” after using it to process their holiday production load. The system includes two stations, each with a platform, an Intermec PC43d label printer, and Fairbanks Scales’ FB4000 Solution Series Instruments running LabelBank.

Associated Scale installed DataBank in a network configuration on a networked PC, along with ledger web reporting. Associated Scale also provided customized scanning and reporting software for the PC that added features to the Fairbanks Scales web reporting software. Whitewater had extremely positive things to say about Associated Scale’s service, and also praised the reliability of the Fairbanks solution.

The graphically-enhanced LabelBank labeling software interface features easy controls and printer communications. LabelBank comes with four commonly used box label formats designed to meet most bar code labeling requirements for boxes or pallets.

Counting scales are an essential piece of technology for any business selling a large amount of product at once. When counting large amounts of small items to sell (such as nails or screws) it’s important, to be able to count them quickly and accurately. This is where counting scales come in. To count each individual piece manually takes much too long and is a massive waste of resources. With a counting scale, all of this waste is erased. As their name implies, counting scales count by weight. By weighing a known number of parts and entering that known number into the scale, the scale can divide for the precise weight of each piece, which is used to determine the accurate count of subsequent weight measurements of like parts.

The Problem

Despite their obvious superiority over other counting methods, counting scales do have one small issue that can cause inefficiency: individual items of the same kind may have slightly different weights. Even products that are mass produced, like nails or screws, can have subtle differences in composition and size, which, of course, results in tiny differences in weight. This can lead to inaccurate piece weights if the number of pieces used to determine the piece weight is too small. If the piece weight for a product is inaccurate, all subsequent weights recorded by the scale could be slightly off. This effect is negligible when counting small numbers of pieces, such as 10 nails. But when counting hundreds or thousands of pieces of one product, these slight differences in weight can make a significant difference.

The Solution

The problem described above can be solved by using a larger sample size. Basic statistics states that the difference between pieces contributes less to the overall average when more pieces are measured at once. A large sample size reduces the effect of non-uniform weights between pieces, which ensures a more accurate piece count and in turn reduces overall counting error.

Using a large sample size to find your piece weight for any product can take a long time, however, as manual counting is still needed initially. This is where Fairbanks Scales’ technology enters the picture.

Fairbanks Scales’ Omega Counting Scale

Products like Fairbanks Scales’ Omega Counting Scale (OCS) and Product Look Up (PLU) software make using large sample sizes feasible. Our scales can store information electronically; piece count weights can be measured once and stored, rather than weighed again each time a new count must be taken. This drastically reduces the time needed for each count. Our Omega Counting Scale can store hundreds of piece weights with the help of the PLU manager software, so every product and its associated information can easily be accounted for.

It all comes down to the larger sample size, which is only a practical solution when using modern counting scales such as one of Fairbanks Scales’. Once a company can consistently use these larger sample sizes in their measurements, their accuracy will be drastically improved, and overall efficiency will be increased. As long as the Fairbanks Scales Omega Counting Scale is in the picture, counting inefficiencies need no longer cause stress or worry.